This is a reader-submitted story.
1. My diagnosis is:Chronic Migraine
2. My migraine attack frequency is: 1-3 times per week
3. I was diagnosed in: 2004
4. My comorbid conditions include: fibromyalgia, depression
5. I take ____ medications/supplements each day for prevention and ____ medications/supplements to treat an acute attack 3 medications/supplements for prevention, 3 medications for an acute attack
6. My first migraine attack was: in high school
7. My most disabling migraine symptoms are: pain and nausea
8. My strangest migraine symptoms are: olfactory hallucinations
9. My biggest migraine triggers are: weather
10. I know a migraine attack is coming on when: I become very irritable
11. The most frustrating part about having a migraine attack is: how it interrupts my life.
12. During a migraine attack, I worry most about: whether or not I’ll start vomiting.
13. When I think about migraine between attacks, I think: how disruptive it is to life
14. When I tell someone I have migraine, the response is usually: “have they figured out what causes it?”
15. When someone tells me they have migraine, I think: “I’m so sorry”
16. When I see commercials about migraine treatments, I think: “I wished that worked for me”
17. My best coping tools are: sleep, knitting
18. I find comfort in: my family, faith, knitting
19. I get angry when people say: “You’d think they’d be able to find a cure with you being a doctor and all” (Like the medical community saves the good treatments for the doctors!)
20. I like it when people say: “I’m so sorry. What can I do to help?”
21. Something kind someone can do for me during a migraine attack is: Let me rest
22. The best thing(s) a doctor has ever said to me about migraine is: “Your pain is real. I believe you.”
23. The hardest thing to accept about having migraine is: There is no cure.
24. Migraine has taught me:I can’t do everything I want to. And that’s OK.
25. The quotation, motto, mantra, or scripture that gets me through an attack is: John 16:33 “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”
26. If I could go back to the early days of my diagnosis, I would tell myself: “You’re going to be OK. Your identity is not in your profession. Learn to be gentle with yourself.”
27. The people who support me most are: my husband and children.
28. The thing I most wish people understood about migraine is: it is more than a headache. Chronic migraine is a real chronic illness.
29. Migraine and Headache Awareness Month is important to me because: the more people that understand this illness, the more that they will understand their friends and family with migraine. The more that people understand that this is a chronic illness, the more that people with chronic headache will see a medical provider about their own illness instead of thinking “It’s just a headache”.
30. One more thing I’d like to say about life with migraine is: “Chronic migraine is a real disease. We need to learn more about it to develop better prevention and treatment. People with chronic migraine are truly ill and want to be understood, not pitied.”
Reader-submitted stories solely 
represent the personal point of view, experience, and opinion of the author, not of The Daily Headache or Kerrie Smyres. Follow this link to learn how to share YOUR 30 Things about living with a headache disorder.